The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Loropetalum, botanically known as Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘GriffCRL’. The new cultivar was discovered as a naturally-occurring branch mutation of the Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum cultivar ‘Ruby’ (unpatented) in Watkinsville, Ga. in 1996.
The genus Loropetalum is included in the family Hamamelidaceae that comprises about 15 genera of shrubs and trees growing in the northern hemisphere. Loropetalum comprises one species of evergreen shrub or small tree which possesses desirable ornamental characteristics. Loropetalum was first introduced to Europe as an ornamental plant in the 1880s and is believed to have been cultivated in North America since the early 1930s. Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum is a native of China and was first discovered in 1928 in Hunan Province. It was rediscovered in the late 1980s and subsequently introduced to the United States.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by stem cuttings at Watkinsville, Ga. since June, 1996, has shown that the distinctive features of this new Loropetalum are stable and reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.